How These 13-Year-Old Girls Will Change the Way You Get Dressed

"In any given posse of middle-school-age children, among the sea of skinny-jeans-clad girls there are usually one or two outliers who march to their own drummer and just don't care what everyone else is wearing. The girl wearing an oversize Boy Scout shirt as a dress or the one sporting slouchy vintage military trousers are the girls that everyone else wishes they had the courage to be. Even adults can experience peer pressure, and it can be liberating and empowering to dress entirely for yourself."

"You would be surprised what combinations look great together, and you never know until you try. I recommend doing what most kids do, which is to just disregard the assumption that you could ever go wrong doing this."

"My daughter and her friends are constantly raiding each other's closets, thereby expanding their wardrobe options exponentially. Adults with similar tastes, too, can bring what they are tired of, throw them all on a table, commence swapping over wine, and leave happily with new clothes."

"Probably one-third of my daughter's wardrobe is comprised of clothing that once belonged to her brothers. She wears a wool boy's suit jacket — that her middle brother wore to his trumpet recitals — to very chic effect over dresses. I highly recommend that a woman take advantage of her husband, boyfriend, or brother by borrowing liberally from his closet."

"Kids bring a sense of fun and abandon to dressing that most adults lack, and accessories are a big part of it. And, as one young girl I know commented as she walked out the door in a top hat with an attached feather: 'I can always take it off later if I feel like a total dork in this.'"

"Children often use what they choose to wear as a means of self-expression and an outlet for their creative impulses. Putting this into practice as an adult doesn't have to be a literal exercise complete with glitter and construction-paper crown, but it certainly could. Sometimes dressing to completely embarrass your kids, if you have them, is its own reward!"

Jenny Williams's book, What My Daughter Wore, is an original collection of illustrations and goes on sale Dec. 9.